Three years ago John Assimwe knew almost nothing about Africa’s insect life. Like most Ugandans, he was more preoccupied with the tall task of making a living in spite of the country’s crushing poverty and sparse employment opportunities. But then he stumbled upon a dream money-spinner: collecting rare insects from the country’s lush tropical forests, pickling them and exporting them to wealthy private collectors.
"You may not like what he does, but are you prepared to give up his right to do it?" That is the tag line on Milos Forman’s 1996 movie <i>The People vs Larry Flynt</i>, which tells the story of how the bellicose founder of <i>Hustler</i> magazine defended his first amendment rights in courts across the US. If they made a movie about local porn king Joe Theron, the tag line wouldn’t be much different.
That’s what happens when the gentry try to behave like common people. They themselves become common. But unlike August Strindberg’s Miss Julie, the same could hardly be said of Jemima Goldsmith, until recently aka Haiqa Khan. Fresh from the talaq queue, the blond billionaire’s daughter is partying up a storm with celebrities and the like in some of London’s poshest clubs.
The eThekwini Council has discovered — through a forensic audit of contracts from the eThekwini municipality for Durban’s uShaka Marine World — that two directors of a joint venture that had won a tender were, in fact, salaried employees — who had no idea that they were directors and had not received any share of the profits. Suddenly, fronting, which has been around for a while, is in the news.
Protea Glen residents are to march on the Lenasia Office of the Sheriff on Wednesday to protest bond default evictions in the Soweto suburb, a local leader said. Protea Glen Residents’ Association secretary Tumi Kwuateng said a teenager, George Malatje, was injured by a police rubber bullet during protests on Tuesday.
Nathan Sharpe replaced injured George Gregan as captain and Chris Whitaker moved into the vacant scrumhalf spot in the Australian line-up announced on Wednesday for the series-opening Tri-Nations rugby union Test against New Zealand. Sharpe was the mainstay in the second row for the Wallabies last year, playing in 14 Tests.
Ernie Els isn’t going to beat himself up for shooting 80 in the final round of the US Open, which cost him a chance at a third title and the number-one world ranking. But he let the United States Golf Association have it — not only for the way Shinnecock Hills was set up in the final round, but for comments by a top official that Els gave up.
Jacques Freitag, South Africa’s world champion, won the high jump at the annual Gran Premio International Athletics meeting in Salamanca on Tuesday evening with an excellent height of 2,34m, only 1cm below the 2004 best of 2,35m. ”I am really coming right,” Freitag told his manager.
Australian Robbie McEwen claimed his second victory on this year’s Tour de France in Gueret, France, on Tuesday after a dramatic finale to the ninth stage that robbed a two-man breakaway of sure victory metres from the finish line. The 32-year-old McEwen claimed his second sprint finish victory inside a week.
Andre Agassi won the 800th singles match of his career on Tuesday night, beating fellow American Alex Bogomolov Jnr 6-3, 6-1 in the first round of the Mercedes-Benz Cup at UCLA. The 34-year-old Agassi is just the sixth player to reach 800 on the ATP Tour since the advent of the Open era in 1968.